Jinan Party secretary highlights city's opening up at 2nd CIIE

Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, is striving to develop an open economy and cultivate new engines of growth via the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Wang Zhonglin, Party secretary of Jinan, introduced the city's free trade area and favorable business environment to overseas representatives at the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai on Nov 6.

With an area of over 10,000 square kilometers and a population of 10 million, the GDP of Jinan hit 886.2 billion yuan ($125.4 billion) in 2018, while its per capita GDP reached 101,900 yuan, putting it among Asia's 50 wealthiest cities.

The city is working to optimize regulations and operating procedures amid deepening economic globalization, said Wang.

The newly added Jinan free trade area will help the city in its efforts to open up and develop by replacing old growth drivers with new ones.

Since it was launched in August, the Jinan area of the Shandong FTZ has attracted projects worth a total of 25.3 billion yuan, 36 fund companies with management funds of 140 billion yuan, and 10 banks with credit of 20 billion yuan.

More policies and regulations beneficial to economic and trade development will be enacted as the area develops, Wang noted.

Recently, the Jinan government rolled out a slew of new measures to further open up its financial markets, with a focus on attracting foreign financial institutions, promoting cross-border investment and fund-raising, and enhancing financial services.

In addition, 30 measures to attract talents, 15 measures to encourage entrepreneurship and 10 measures to boost the development of headquarters economy were also released. New domestic and foreign talents will receive subsidies of up to 100 million yuan.

To attract more global investors and facilitate overseas business, Jinan will create a more sound business environment with international competitiveness, Wang said.